The next day—
the film club room felt louder than usual.
Everyone was talking at the same time, complaining about ideas, arguing over genres, and trying to guess whose stories would be selected.
At the front of the room—
Sonje stood beside the whiteboard with a stack of papers in his hands.
"Alright," he said.
After a few seconds, the room slowly became quiet.
"I finished reading the story submissions last night."
A few students immediately straightened in their seats.
Some looked nervous.
Others looked excited.
Sonje glanced down at the papers once more before continuing.
"I selected five stories."
The room instantly filled with reactions.
"Only five?"
"That's too competitive."
"Please let mine survive."
Yian dramatically pressed his hands together beside me.
"Please, story gods."
Minhu laughed from behind us.
"You're acting like this is an award show."
"It is an award show," Yian replied seriously.
I couldn't help smiling a little.
Then—
Sonje began reading the titles one by one.
Each time he called a story, students reacted loudly around the room.
And then—
he looked down at the next paper.
"This one was really well written," he said casually.
Then he read the name.
"Choi Jia."
Before I could react—
Yian suddenly turned toward me dramatically.
"Wait—you actually got selected?"
"…What does that mean?" I asked quietly.
"It means," Minhu said from behind us, "you were pretending to be untalented this whole time."
"I wasn't pretending," I replied softly.
Yian shook his head immediately.
"No, this is betrayal."
A few people around us laughed quietly.
Meanwhile—
Sonje started writing the teams on the board.
One by one, names appeared under each project.
Then—
I saw ours.
Choi Jia
Kim Sihoon
Lim Yian
Kang Minhu
Han Yoonji
Lee Sonje
For a moment—
my eyes stopped at one name.
Sihoon.
And beside me—
he looked at the board calmly, like nothing about it surprised him at all.
Suddenly—
Sonje clapped his hands lightly again.
"Since the festival is coming soon," he said, "we'll start working on the projects from today."
The room immediately exploded with reactions again.
"Ahh… already?"
"That's way too fast."
"We just got our teams!"
Some students groaned dramatically across the room.
Meanwhile—
someone near the back suddenly said,
"Well, it's still better than studying."
The entire room burst into laughter.
"True!"
"I suddenly love the film club."
Sonje sighed like he was already tired of everyone.
"You people are unbelievable."
Yian leaned back in his chair proudly.
"See? This is why creative people suffer."
Then—
beside me—
Sihoon suddenly spoke quietly.
"…Are you excited about this project?"
I turned toward him slightly.
For a moment—
his eyes were already on me.
"…Yeah," I answered softly.
"I am."
I looked down at the papers on the desk for a second before adding quietly—
"It's really important to me."
For some reason—
his expression softened slightly.
Then—
a small smile appeared on his face.
"…I know."
And somehow—
those two words stayed in my mind longer than they should have.
After class—
while everyone was still talking about the project—
Sihoon suddenly looked at me.
"…Do you want to go somewhere after school?"
For a moment—
I just stared at him.
"…Where?" I asked quietly.
Instead of answering immediately—
he smiled slightly again.
The same quiet smile from before.
Then he said softly,
"Just come with me."
And for some reason—
the moment I looked at him like that—
my heart suddenly felt different again.
"We need to prepare for the project," I said quietly.
"It's okay," he replied calmly.
"We'll come back before it starts."
I looked at him for a moment.
Curious.
Because he sounded strangely sure about it.
But in the end—
I didn't ask anything else.
For some reason—
I just nodded silently instead.
After class ended—
we took the bus together.
I still didn't know where he was taking me.
And somehow—
that only made me more nervous.
The city slowly moved past the window beside me.
People.
Buildings.
Familiar streets disappearing one after another.
But my mind wasn't calm at all.
I kept wondering where we were going—
and why he suddenly wanted to bring me there alone.
Beside me—
Sihoon looked completely relaxed.
Like this was the most normal thing in the world.
When the bus finally stopped—
I looked outside the window.
And froze.
For a moment—
I thought I was imagining it.
The ocean.
We were near the beach.
A soft sea breeze moved through the air as people walked past outside.
And before I could stop myself—
my eyes lit up.
A kind of happiness I hadn't expected.
Not because of the place alone—
but because someone had remembered something so small.
I slowly turned toward him.
"…The beach?"
Sihoon looked at me quietly.
Then he glanced toward the ocean again.
"I noticed something while reading your stories," he said softly.
"In almost every one…"
He paused for a moment.
"The main character always wanted to see the ocean."
I stared at him silently.
"So I thought…"
A small smile appeared on his face again.
"Maybe you like it too."
For a second—
I couldn't say anything at all.
Because no one had ever noticed the things hidden inside my stories before.
But somehow—
he did.